Oh my, wow. This story was amazing. I really liked how you went in depth and really made a point to show how Ginny was feeling about everything that had happened in the Chamber and what she was going through afterward. I always wondered how she dealt with being used and possessed by Riddle, and you did a wonderful job bringing those thoughts to life. I really liked how you went through each step how she was feeling during first year, how she felt during the summer, and what she was going through during her first day back to Hogwarts after everything.
Grammar wise, I wanted to point out that the dialogue was missing proper quotation marks, and personally I would rather some of the really big paragraphs were broken down into smaller ones but that is just me. Over all this was a really great one shot. Great job.

Author's Response: I was certian I had answered this review... So, I'm really sorry for the delay, it is definitly not on purpose.

I'm so glad you liked this story because I know it isn't an easy subject and it definitly isn't for everyone. It was meant as a short story (3 chpaters) but I'm not sure I'll really write them anymore because, apart from the ending, I think it stands on it's own.

I always thought that JK Rowling brushed over this way too easily. Ginny couldn't not have just come out of there unscatered, it's impossible. This is only my interpretation but this could not have been an easy ride for her.

I will definitly make the changes in the format; you are completly right. Thanks for pointing it out! And thanks for this review, I'm glad you liked it!!

I'm going on holiday in about 3 minutes - so this may be slightly short! I loved this! It was so canon (except for the end.. but then again, it could of happened and JK just forgot to mention it ;) ).

I've never really thought of Ginny in the third book, but of course she would still be traumatised and scared. You've ceptured this brilliantly and created a really unique fic!

The characterisation was spot on! I only noticed two spelling mistakes which was 'though' instead of 'thought' (in the last paragraph) and 'lost' instead of 'loss' (her parents were crying their lost)

Really great chapter and I really hope you carry on with this! I'll favourite it as soon as Christmas is over :D

Your Secret Santa
P.S. Merry Christmas!!

Author's Response: I did not expect anyone would read this, it's so NOT christmassy!!! But I'm glad you did though!

I always thought that JKR just left Ginny out in the thrisd book, I really expected to have at least some word about it but there was nothing. It seems impossible to me that Ginny could have simply gone back to her former self without any lasting damages to her personality, especially considering the way she talks about it in the fifth book.

I will check for the typos and the next chapter will come at some point. It's half written but I want it to be perfect before I post it and that is taking a long time!!

Thanks again for such a nice review. I can't wait to see who you are!!

Woah. This was a very impressive chapter. I quite like your writing style and narrative. Though I'm not a Ginny reader, I really like how you've portrayed her here. The dark feelings were very well written. The story flowed nicely too.

The part about Tom coming back to her because of the dementors was very nicely captured. Over all, you did a brilliant job with this piece.

It was a captivating, intense and impressive read, and I liked it.

Good work!

9/10

Cheers!
AD (AditiDraco95)

Merry Christmas from the Slytherin House!

Author's Response: Oh thank you so much for choosing to read this! It's not often people do it and I love receiving feedback on it!

I always thought that JKR left this part out in the third book. It seems impossible to me that, after all she went through in her first year, Ginny would come out of it completly unscathered. These things leave marks on her person's character and take time to heal. Plus, having the Dementors around that year, I can hardly imagine that something else would come back to haunt her.

Thanks again for this review, you make me feel a lot more confident about this first chapter; now if I can just finish the second one.

This was so..so sad, and heartwrenching. :( JKR never elaborated upon what Ginny went through after her first year. And to be honest, even I never wondered. But, /of course/ she would be feeling so terrible. And you wrote her feelings so beautifully. I know this is a sensitive topic, but this somehow fits, you know? As does Ginny's not so brave personality, because, after all, she's only a twelve year old. I loved the way you wrote about Ron- that he understood her pain, to a certain extent.

Overall, lovely writing. There were quite a few spelling errors in the beginning, but it's quite an old piece, so it doesn't matter anyway.

Wonderful writing. :)

PS- congrats on writing 400 reviews! I don't think I'd ever be able to do that. Perhaps in ten years or so... :P

Author's Response: Thank you so much for this review and for your heartfelt comments.
I agree that this was never explored by JKR but I always thought that this must have been a horrible life-changing event in this young girl's life. She was very young and she certaintly went thought most of it alone, not wanting to talk about it too much. But dealing with it would be extremly hard.

I will check the spelling errors you talked about. It is an old piece and I'm still working on the second and third chapters (it will be 3 chapters long) because I want them to be authentic and emotionaly adequate. This is a hard subjet and I don't want to look like I'm taking it lightly or saying that things will suddently be all roses and puppies for Ginny.
This story is really about learning that things can get better, if we let time do it's work and brace ourselves to face the difficulties.

Ah yes! 400 reviews is such a big accomplishement, I never thought I'd get there so, don't give up, you'll get there as well. Also, considering you give such great reviews, always considerate and helpfull, I'm convinced you will get there because people will request your opinions!!

Oh, God! I remember reading this much time ago, from my older account. How could you actually forget such a piece? It was really touching. Who would ever believe the experience would affect Ginny that much? Stealing her innocence... Changing her life..
Ginny seemed always a really strong character. But I guess we can't assume she was always that way. Also, it could be possible that this situation managed to make her stronger. It could either destroy her entirely or make her stronger. You described the first option...
The thing that I never forgot about this story was the ending:"everything went black around and inside Ginny Weasley."

Ramona
Gryffindor

Author's Response: Alright, this is ackward... I'm really sorry for the delay but can you believe I am finally getting to your review seven months later? Yeah, things got a bit out of my hands in the last couple months and I'm really sorry about the delay.

This is probably my favorite story of mine although it is also the hardest one. It always bothered me how JK Rowling brushed over Ginny's storyline, as if you can just forget something like that and move on with your life.

I think the same as you, this situation probably made her stronger and this story (if I ever finish it) is about the journey and how she will use this experience and learn to grow with it rather than having it destroy her.

I'm glad you liked it and remembered it! And I'm really sorry about not responding before. I actually didn't check the reviews for this story because I never get any! People always chose my other stories because this one is quite hard I guess. This review is even more precious because of that so thanks again :)

Oh, and hey- It's ElysiumJayne from over at the forums. You requested a review from me a couple of months back and I'm just here doing that...

I think that even though the subject of suicide is quite a sensitive one to a lot of people- I know that my sister will agree, but at the same time I think it's something that does happen nowadays and that your representation of what could have defintely happened to Ginny Weasley is a very moving one.

As much of a Tom Riddle fangirl that I am (and would love to be in Ginny's position), I have to admit that it would be quite a life-changing experience and this could very well be the ending.

And before I start repeating myself over and over again, I'd like to finish off by saying Well Done. It's a hard topic to write about and you've done it well.

x Ely

Author's Response: Yhank you so much for the nice review! I'm really sorry about the delay, there was a problem with my account and I couldn't answer reviews for a while. All fixed now and I will get to it!
I'm glad you thought my representation of suicide was realistic and the way I handled it.

Thanks again so very much and I apologize for this late response again :)

Okay, to start with I think that this is a really interesting approach to what must be going on in Ginny's life. I've never read anything quite like it, and I find it really interesting.

There's quite a bit going on in hid chapter, and to be quite honest I find it a smidge overwhelming. I understand why all of this would be lumped together in one chapter, especially as i can tell that your itching to get to the good stuff, but I might consider splitting it up. The reader can wait two chapters to get to the suicide, and I felt like you skimmed over a lot of things, but didn't particularly detail anything. I think I would have liked for you to take a bit longer and tell me more about her past and her feelings.

You're writing is great, though! It's enjoyable to read and it doesn't drag.

I know that you know how sensitive a subject you're dealing with. You've done a good job being respectful and careful with what you've said, which is obviously really important. The thing to remember, I think, is that no matter how carefully you broach this subject you're boomed to step on somebodys toes. A good artist, be they painters or writers, can't be afraid of offending somebody. I know that this is a family site, and that there are limits here, and I'm by no means saying to break the rules or anything like that. But you're going to get into really tough things, and I would just say not to be afraid of them. You can br tactful and honest at the same time. You've already shown that!

I think that this story is going to be really great! You've done great with your first chapter, and I'd love to read more.
Feel free to rerequest in my thread when you update again!
Kristen=]

I really like your honesty about what you liked and think should be improved and I fully agree with you. Your comment "The reader can wait two chapters to get to the good stuff" really got me thinking and I think I might follow your lead and split this chapter so I can add more details and storyline.

Awww, poor Ginny. I've always been curious as to how she looked back on her first year.

"...Tom Riddle had changed her, had taken her innocence away..." this is probably my favorite quote. It's just haunting and delicate and pretty.

I love the relationship you write between Ron and Ginny, but I imagine she'd be equally comfortable around her other brothers. Especially Bill and Charlie, who would be almost fatherly to her. But I guess she doesn't see them as often :/

Oooh, never mind. New favorite quote: "...everything went black around and inside Ginny Weasley."

I really love your style. :) Thanks for another great read!

Author's Response: Thanks for this review, I know it's a tough story and really not for everyone to read.

I agree with you on the relationship between the Weasley siblings; Ginny would most likely feel close to all of her brothers (except maybe Percy...) but Bill and Charlie are far away. Plus, the way I see it - based on how the twins acted in CS when they terrified Ginny to make her feel better - if they kept this course of action through the summer in order to make her feel better and think of something else, it probably wasn't what she needed...

Thank you once more for your review and your kind words, you are really giving me a wonderful HP christmas!

This was a very good one-shot as it was never really explained in the books exactly how Ginny dealt with her problems since all she was was a minor character (one that I don't care for much). However, her still feeling all of the blame is reasonable and realistic. She was so young and nearly killed people; anyone would feel large amounts of blame even if it's not entirely their fault.

A tiny thing I have to pick on is that, despite all of the information given, I still wasn't able to get much of Ginny's...deeper emotion? I don't know if I'm explaining myself that great, but I think adding in some scenes with her maybe running into the people she harmed in the beginning instead of just explaining it all in bulk paragraphs would flow much better since it is such a heavy topic. For example, perhaps she could bump into Hermione and have a flash of what she did to her come to mind? Since she knows Hermione is such a close friend, that could push her further off the edge and show just how messed up she was. Did that come across clear? I apologize if it didn't as I'm better explaining in person than on something like this.

All in all though, it was a well-touched upon subject. I enjoyed how she felt about Tom and how she could still hear and feel him despite him not really being there. That part was wonderful.

-Reyes91

Author's Response: Thank you for this great review. I'm glad you enjoyed this piece although it is a heavy one.

It was really hard to get inside Ginny's deep emotion all the while staying within the TOS; I had to take out lots of small but deeper moments after the story was rejected.
I have to say that the idea you gave me is really excellent, I hadn't thought of a flashback at all and will definitly explore the possibility and try make this part really connected to Ginny's emotional state. Thank you for the idea (oh and not to worry, your explanantion was very clear!)!!

So really, thanks for such a great and helpfull review, I really appreciate it!

I noticed a few grammatical mistakes (capitalization and misspelled words) but it wasn't anything major.

I'll just focus on the suicide aspect of the story since that's the major theme. I think that I would have liked to see more of Ginny thoughts during all of this. Maybe writing it in 1st person would allow for this more than 3rd person. It's hard to tell what's really going on inside her head with the way it is written. I also think it would have been much more interesting to just show how she is acting this year instead of going back to how she felt while everything was going on.

Even so, that "Good Morning, Tom" -- "Goodbye, Ginny" part was really strong. I liked that quite a bit.

I don't know if I can read this and say that Ginny would kill herself. I know that I wouldn't ever understand why someone would kill themselves, but there just wasn't enough shown about her thoughts. I could see why her experiences might mess with her head enough to make that the case, but I just didn't see it here. Especially when she had someone like Ron supporting her.

I did like how she kept seeing the things from her first year when she saw people or went to places that she attacked others. And I enjoyed how you described that when she was attacking them, she felt the anger and hatred and it wasn't just Tom feeling it through her.

Also very interesting how the Dementor's affected her as if Tom were alive again and still possessing her.

It's a very interesting read, but I'd like to see more inside of her head.

Magically Yours,

Dem

Author's Response: Hello there and thank you for reviewing!

I did try to write it first person at first but it was too difficult not to break the TOS when I wrote it that way. I've had a great idea given to me in order to help reach this aspect of the story, on how it all happened the first year and how she felt and acted back then so the next version of this chapter should be a bit closer to Ginny's emotions.

On the suicidal aspect of this (and mind you, this is the professional talking - I work with suicidal teenagers daily), I have to say that, sadly, when a person is so emotionaly distraught, no matter how many strong and loving person she has around her, it would not help her make the choice of living. Sadly when a person reaches this state, they are incapable of thinking outside of their pain.
I do, however, understand your difficulty to understand that (I really wish nobody around here would understand this because it means you've been there and that is not what I want for anyone) if I didn't effectively transmit Ginny's emotional state. I will definitly try and work on that.

Thanks once again for your review, it was really helpfull and gives me great pointers as to what I need to work on to improve this story.

Wow. I think you handled the sensitive subject matter exceptionally well. I don't think I ever really liked Ginny in the series, she was kind of just there and I accepted that. However, your story seemed to have made her a real person which I always found lacking in her character in the books. So congratulations on that -- she's really fantastic.

Your writing style is extremely unique. I can't quite put my finger on exactly what makes it so special, but you captured the moments and Ginny's thoughts rather perfectly. And this is such an interesting idea - I'm really looking forward to how you further explore it!

And your Tom is, in a way, more chilling than he was in the series! Like this, "Tom was with her again, whispering words of sweet terror; letting her know Ginny Weasley wasnít worth inhabiting this body; that He would use it to perform great and righteous actions. He was laughing sweetly, wondering how little self respect she must have in order to dare show herself in public after what she had done..." Seriously, CHILLS.

Also, love the characterization of Ron. I tend to be bothered by authors who have to tell the reader what a character's personality is mostly because it chops the flow up, but how you did it with Ron (about him being unattached, etc.) seemed to have added to the flow of the first chapter and is brilliant!

Fantastic job! Looking forward to reading more of this :)

Author's Response: Thank you so much for your kind review; makes me feel a lot more confortable!
I've always felt the same way about Ginny, which is mostly whay I wrote this; I wanted to give her a purpose even if it was just to satisfy myself!!

I was afraid I would make Tom feel a bit overboard so thanks for showing me I did it well afterall!

Again, thank you very much for this nice review, I will let you know when the second chapter is up; it'll be a bit different but is only one more step in Ginny's healing process.

I really enjoyed your story - it's like a missing part of the book. JK never described how Ginny coped with this traumatic experience so it's interesting to see her deal with it (or in this case not deal with it). In my non-professional opinion, it is realistic that such a young and sweet girl as Ginny can be driven to suicide by the guilt that is hanging on her. Plus, she does it after her meeting with the Dementors (another traumatic moment, nice touch to the story) and she does it more in a fit of madness rather than having premeditated it (along with the consequences). Also, most suicidal people have suffered depression prior to the attempt, and Ginny certainly seems depressed after the horrible ordeal with the chamber of secrets. You've got your facts well done.

I really want to see you continue the story and I hope that Ginny doesn't jump (fact - most people who attempt it and survive, regret doing it later). I hope Ron and her friends help her deal with it. :)))

Best,
Kail

P.S. Your writing is almost without mistake. You may want to correct "the extend of her participation" to extent and "A boy whom had been one of her victims the year before." to "who had been". But this is awesome, I always have more spelling errors -_-'

Author's Response: Thank you so much so much for your review.
It always felt like such a missing piece of information to me; how could that little girl get over something so big unscathered?

I'm glad you liked the Dementors' part; it was afterall in the 'canon story', I only played with it a bit in order to give Ginny the occasion to go back to what happenend the year before therefor giving her an even bigger need to end everything.

I will continue the story; the second chapter is almost done already and I can tell you that you will most likely cannot imagine how this will turn out but I assure you that things will turn out alright for her. She will eventually learn how to deal in a more acceptable way.

Really moving story, you really did a good job with writing what Ginny might of been going through in her second year. I'll be waiting for the next chapter!

Author's Response: Thank you for this review. I'm glad you agree with my vision of Ginny's second year because I hardly doubt it was easy for her.
I feel bad because I actually forgot to put in a scene (it was in my final version of this chapter but I didn't post the right version...) where, in the train, they encounter the dementors. I feel it's probably the most important scene because it will bring all emotions and memory back to Ginny before she even sets foot in the school, making it even harder for her.
I hope you will enjoy the rest of this story and the edited version, when I post it! (I need to be careful because of TOS and I don't want to offense anyone with this touchy subject)